Question, i have washed out 2 Porkpie Table Lamps last week and managed to remove lots of crud from the inside of the tanks. I have washed them out with water, then methylated spirit‘s, followed by leaving them in the sun with the pumps off to dry. The inside of the tanks still have moisture, i have even hit them with a hairdryer but had no luck removing the moisture from the inside of the tanks. I’m wanting to display both lamps and have just finished restoring them, but i am worried that the moisture will eventually rise up past the cock/valve and rust out the inside of the vaporiser. Also not to mention rusting the inside of the tanks. I have even left the pumps off both tanks for a week but still cant fully remove the moisture. Dose anyone have any ideas or tricks that i can try to remove the moisture so i can display the lamps. Or will it be ok to screw the pumps back on and leave what moisture is inside the tanks ? Kind Regards Darren
Darren, there is always moisture in the air anyway. I understand your concern, I have left the pumps right off all my FLs and SLs all winter and will put them back into next summer. Your tanks are brass and rust is not an issue. As for getting up into the vapouriser, turn the cock off.
@Kiwiboy00 It sounds like you have used a good approach-could it be something other than water? If not, you can try using acetone to rinse the font and it will take water with it in the same way as metho (and you can do multiple rinses faster as the acetone will evaporate faster). Re acetone read the MSDS or ask for advice to keep safe if you don’t have experience with it. Best way though could be leaving outside in the Queensland sun for a day (unless you are worried about the paint). That’s what I’d do.
Thankyou Anthony & Kero-Scene, i will leave them out in the sun again over the weekend see how that goes. I probably sound paranoid about moisture rising to the top of the tank then going through the valve into the vap, but i have new old stock unused vap on them all and would hate to have them rust out. Also i have heard that brass can go green due to moisture a thing called verdigris ? Im probably being “OTT” but i have thousands of dollars tied up in lamps, most have been restored and i would hate to use one in years to come only to find the moisture has caused damage. Looking inside the tanks they still look wet on the bottom floor, with a few small green patches here and there. I washed the tanks out with Hot citric acid followed buy methylated spirit‘s. I just don’t want to leave the pumps off inside the house and have dust or insects get inside a cleaned washed out tank. Gotta be an easy way, unless most people just screw the pump up and forget about it. Regards Darren
hi fella, try the moisture absorbing packets like you get in medicine or packaging you know the small bean looking packs, they will absorb any moisture, I think you can buy it in bulk from hardware store, tie a few of them in a line hang inside your tank loosely put your fuel pump back and probably in a day or so they will have absorbed any or all the moisture, or just leave them in there , then replace every now and then, if you are not going light your lanterns. just a thought, I use them on my windscreen dash helps with the fogging
That is a great idea Darryl, i will do this tomorrow and let you all know how i go. Hope i can buy them small enough to fit through the tank hole.
Drying out an enclosed space is always a problem. I painted the inside of a lamp many years ago in an attempt to cure a minor leak and it took about two weeks for the paint to dry. Now if I want to dry out a tank I use a small aquarium air pump which gives a gentle air flow through the tank and if humidity is low this will dry the inside in a few hours. ::Neil::
The little aquarium pump is ideal! I've used this method, too. It works, but you have to give it a few days. We have humid summers here and real dry winters so I try to give any drying events plenty of time in the summer, maybe not as long in the winter.
how about this, good to dry out mobile phones when dropping down the toilet too so I am told Fill the tank about half full with uncooked rice. This will draw out the moisture and not swell the rice. then when dry empty and blow out with air
G’Day Neil, that mate is a fantastic idea, so today i went out and brought an Aquarium Air Pump. Here is some photos of my setup. Gotta say this forum is lucky to have people like yourself, and all the others that commented on my post. I will give everyone an update on how long the entire process takes to dry out both tanks. I brought a dual pump so i can dry 2 tanks at the same time. Also thankyou Neil, George, Anthony, Kero-Scene, Darryl, Plantpot, Tony. Appreciate you all taking the time to respond to my post. Kind Regards Darren
Cheers Digout, but im pretty stoked so far with how well the aquarium air pump is performing. Its drying out nicely. Kind Regards Darren
The air pump works great in colder weather when I have the heating on. The lamps sit on a radiator which warms it all and the air pump will dry a tank in less than a day. In the summer I tickle the base plate with a blow lamp just to move things along. I suppose the ideal set up would be to have a warming pad of some sort but I have never found a suitable one. ::Neil::
I remember my Grandmother having an electric serving tray that would be used on a sideboard to keep the roast warm. Essentially it was the shape and size of a rectangular tray with a built in heating element. Here is an example sold by Amazon for $49.78 + $25.34 Delivery. Its dimensions are 17.0 x 9.6 inches. The advertising blurb is as follows: Out-of-the-oven freshness for hours– The Ovente electric warming tray FW170 series runs on a 200W heating element that keeps the food hot for hours. It supplies even heating across the tray, and it won’t suck the juice and moisture out of the food! With it, you can serve your guests with food that taste like it just came out of the oven. I wonder if one of these or similar would aid the drying process. Cheers Pete
That is a good question Pete, so far i’m 100% over the moon with the aquarium Air Pump. It has taken under 24hrs to fully dry 2x tanks. So simple, but so affective. Kind Regards Darren
I was given an industrial oven which has good controls, but if I hadn't I would have looked out for an old one on a local buy-sell-swap kind of site. Then again I have a large garage to put things in.
Hi Tony, Gold Coast, its always summer here. Sent you an email today, not sure if you received it. Regards Darren
